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Wednesday, March 22, 2017

One of my favorite activities as a kid
was building with Lego blocks. I still remember the first big set I
got for Christmas. It was a big pirate ship and it was so fun to put
together! One of the great things about Lego sets is that after your
build them, you can take the pieces apart and use your imagination to
create other things. It really helps develop creativity and
understanding on how things are made.

As I got older, I don't remember what
happened to my Legos, but we must have given them away at some point.
I did not have Legos for a long time but they always remained a fond
memory. Sometimes I would see them in stores and want to get them,
but always passed it up.

Fast forward to present day, I started
doing a little research online for Lego sets. I found the Lego Creator 3 in 1 Fast Car set (31046) on sale for $15. I liked the
designs and it comes with a good amount of pieces (222) so after some
thinking, I decided to treat myself to this set.

I was very excited to build it as it
had been many years since the last time I worked with Legos. Opening
it up, it has 3 packs of pieces divided by small, medium, and large,
2 base pieces, and separate instruction booklets for each vehicle. I
set up my space and got to work making the car!

The age recommendation on the box was
7-12 but I think this is too limiting as it should say 7+ or 7-Adult
because this set is fun and challenging enough for people even over
the age of 12. The age range listed on Lego boxes may really be
limiting their potential market. People like myself who grew up with
Lego are now adults who can actually buy these sets. I think they
should do more to market towards the older demographic as Lego sets
are fun to build even as an adult.

I worked at a leisurely pace enjoying
the building process and took the time to really appreciate the
construction and the thought behind why each piece was chosen. I
forgot how educational Lego building was. It makes you develop skills
such as following instructions, attention to detail, understanding 3D
models, and small piece assembly. Not to mention creativity if you
decide to use the pieces to make your own designs. It makes me think,
they should have Lego courses in school curriculums, seriously!

Completed Fast Car

Overall the Fast Car took about 2 ½
hours to build. I was very pleased with the process. It was easy to
follow the instructions but challenging as well. In fact, I did make
a couple mistakes along the way even when taking plenty of time to
build carefully. In the end, I was impressed with the finished
product.

The car looks good and has a solid
feel. It also has cool features such as a retractable hard top, pop
up hood, and Lamborghini style doors! I saw it had the convertible
conversion on the box, but the doors were a pleasant surprise!

Original Jet Plane Created

Breaking the model back down to
individual pieces took about one hour. I was already excited to use
the blocks to make an original creation so I decided to make a plane.
After some trial an error, I completed the plane and I think it
turned out very well! It was a lot of fun using creativity and the
limitations of a set to create a new model. As long as you have
enough pieces, the possibilities are endless!

Overall I highly recommend this Lego
set for anyone who is interested in Legos or even for those who may
have never used Legos before. It is a great value and will provide
hours of entertainment and education for everyone!

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Recently, I saw a study where they
showed participants a series of photos of different people and asked them
to rate them in order of attractiveness. They did this for both men
and women and the results showed that most people were in close
agreement with the order they chose. They concluded that people generally agree
on what physical traits make a person attractive.

I started to think about this study in
relation to the concept of natural selection. In theory, with natural
selection, those who are more attractive or more desirable as a
partner will have a higher chance of attracting a mate and
producing offspring. These offspring would then continue the same
kind of traits as their parents.

With this process going on for hundreds
of thousands of years, you would think that by now, people would all
have model good looks and the best genes available to make for
healthy successful individuals, but in reality this is far from the
case. There are still millions of people who would be considered
unattractive as well as millions with genetic medical conditions. So
the question is, why is this the case? Is natural selection not working?

Take the case of attractiveness. If
attractive people have higher chance of finding a partner and
continuing their genes, why are there still so many people who would
be considered unattractive? I think one possibility may be a change
in what we consider attractive in modern times.

With visual media becoming such a huge
part of our lives over the past couple hundred years, we are more
exposed to movie stars and models, not to mention how much more
effort is put into trying to make people look good. For example
makeup, surgery, photoshopping is all done to try to make people
appear more attractive then they actually are. These images are then
broadcast to the general public. We see these images and over time
start to accept them as a reality of how people are supposed to be.

Then we look at ourselves and the
people around us and it does not quite match up with the perfect
images we see on tv and in the movies. This may have an effect on our
judgment of ourselves and others in terms of attractiveness. So there
may be a higher unrealistic standard that has been set for modern
times when it comes to this issue.

Other factors continue to come into
play that may go against natural selection. For example say two
people got drunk at a party and took part in some activities that
they would ordinarily not do under a clear mind. These actions might
lead to reproduction that probably should not have happened.

Another common situation is two young
people who are irresponsible and not thinking about the consequences
for their actions. Before they know it, they may end up with a child
on their hands who they are unable to care for or provide a good
life.

Other factors such as personality,
values, money, location can effect the potential of one reproducing
which may be why natural selection does not go on physical appearance
alone. For example someone may not have the best looks, but they may
have a good personality or a good job that allows them to provide a
stable life for a family.

Overall, I would conclude that it is a
combination of a rapidly changing culture with many other factors
other than physical attractiveness that has contributed to the make
up of the current population today.

Monday, March 13, 2017

There seems to be some disagreement on
whether a bathroom door should be left open or closed when it is not
in use. This can depend on the situation and location of the
bathroom, but personally I think residential bathroom doors should
remain open when no one is in there.

The main reason to support this is the
fact that you can easily tell when the bathroom is open for use
because it is clear that no one is inside. If the door is closed, it
can be very hard to tell if someone is inside without knocking or
calling out, “Is anyone in there?”. I don't like having to knock
on a bathroom door just to find out if someone is in there. It can be
even more awkward for the person inside having someone knock on the
door and having to yell out, “Yes, someone is in here!”

So why would people close the door when
no one is inside? I did a little research and I saw some arguments
made that a bathroom is a private room and not something you really
want to have on display especially when there is company over. I get
where they are coming from, but everyone knows bathrooms exist. It is
not something we need to hide away. If there are visitors over such
as for a party, they are going to need to know where it is, and they
should not have to knock to try to figure out if someone is inside.

I know if I am over at someone's house
for a get together and I see the bathroom door closed, I assume
someone is in there. I would guess many people would think the same
thing and wait until a later time to check back to see if it is open.
Then 10-15 minutes go by and you check again and it is still closed.
Eventually someone decides to knock on the door or check if someone
is in there and it turns out, it was empty the whole time! This kind
of situation should not happen which is why bathroom doors should be
left open when not in use.

Another argument mentioned is that
keeping the door closed keeps unpleasant odors from going to the rest
of the house. In rare cases, I could see if you might want to leave
the door closed with a fan on for a while, but most of the time, this
should not be an issue. If anything, keeping the door open will help
ventilate it to help disperse the odor more quickly.

What are your thoughts on this debate
of whether a bathroom door should remain open or closed when not in
use. Feel free to leave a comment below.

Friday, March 10, 2017

Recently I had to drop my car off for
collision repair which was scheduled to take about a week. During
this time, I got a rental car on site from Hertz. Registration was
pretty easy. As expected they needed the basics such as drivers
license and a credit card on file. They put a $50 pending charge on
the credit card which I would find out later why they do this.

I got one of the basic cars, a late
model Nissan Versa hatchback. The car was decent and easy to drive.
One interesting thing about it is that it came included with a Hertz
navigation system. It was not built into the dash, but more
permanently attached as an add on. It turns on when you start the
car. Personally I did not use it, but it is a nice feature to have,
although I would have liked to have the option to hide it away in the
glove compartment so it is not out on display.

Another interesting thing is apparently
the navigation has a camera. I did some research and it looks like
Hertz is starting to integrate cameras into their cars. It is not
clear if they are active right now, but it kind of makes you feel
like you are being watched. I could see how that might be a privacy
concern.

During the week I did not drive the car
much and only ended up using about 1 gallon of fuel. They tell you to
fill the tank before you drop it off so you do not have to pay a
charge for the refueling. I stopped to fuel it up on the way there,
but the gas station was packed and every pump was taken. I waited for
a few minutes but it was so crowded and I was more concerned with
returning the car safely rather than hanging around in a crowded gas
station with cards weaving in an out, so I decided to just take it
back without topping it off.

It was near the end of the work day so
they did not have anyone at the desk but I was able to drop off the
keys. Even though the tank was nearly full, I did get charged for
about 1 gallon. They charge nearly $10 a gallon which I think is kind
of unreasonable considering gas is only about $2.50 per gallon at the
moment. I can understand if they charge a fee for the fill up, but
that kind of mark up seems a little outrageous. Note, this is one of
the reasons they ask for your credit card ahead of time.

In the end, the rental car was covered
by insurance so that was good. Overall the Hertz rental car
experience was ok and I would recommend them if you are looking to
rent a car, but make sure you are able to fill up the tank before
dropping it off otherwise you will end up paying the inflated price
on the gas.

Thursday, March 2, 2017

Netflix has been around for a while now
and I had been slow to jump on the bandwagon, instead opting to just
watch network tv for free and an occasional episode online. I try to
live frugally and avoid unnecessary expenses, but a couple months
back I got the opportunity to try out Netflix for free, so I decided to give it a go.

I was surprised at how much content was
available, from original shows and specials to movies and even full
seasons of shows from other networks. I started with the 30 day free
trial figuring I would try it out and probably cancel at the end of
the 30 days, but after trying it out, I decided it was good enough to continue.

The monthly subscription starts at
$7.99 which is pretty reasonable considering how much unlimited
streaming entertainment is offered at this price. The base price is
for 1 streaming device at a time and standard definition. You can
also upgrade to higher definition and more streaming accounts for a
few extra dollars per months. I compared the SD to the HD and found
the standard definition still had very good picture quality. HD is a
little more crisp, but I found SD quality to be just fine.

The Netflix layout lets you search by
recommended titles and you can add shows and movies to your list to
watch later. It also has a rating and reviews system to help with
recommendations. I found it is a lot easier to navigate on a computer
vs on a streaming device like Roku. I have the Roku to use with the
tv, but I do most of the searching for new titles on the computer
since it is a lot more efficient.

You might think that once you watch
everything you were interested in, there would be no reason to
continue the subscription, but Netflix continuously adds new content
each month. Not to mention, the library of current content is
enormous and would take many months to really cover everything that
catches your interest.

After having watched many of the shows
and specials, here are some of the top picks I would recommend:

Stand Up Comedy:

If you are a fan of stand up, Netflix
is great because they have a lot of comedy specials like this. Some
of my favorites so far are Chelsea Peretti – One of the Greats,
Todd Barry – The Crowd Work Tour, and Sebation Maniscalco –Aren't You Embarrassed. Chelsea's special has good production value
and gets creative with the editing taking it to the next level. Todd
special is also different in that he goes on tour with no material
and pretty much just talks to the audience and creates jokes on the
spot. Sebation has great stage presence and is not shy about calling
people out when they are doing things they shouldn't.

Documentary:

There are a couple related shows in a
comedic documentary style: An Idiot Abroad, and The Moaning of Life.
The both feature a guy named Karl Pilkington who is pretty much an
average Joe who reluctantly travels the world learning about
different countries and cultures. He often has funny and brilliant
reflection on his experiences and what he has learned.

Another pick in the travel documentary style
is The Kindness Diaries which features a guy named Leon who goes on a motorcycle
trip around the world but brings no money and instead relies on the
strangers he meets for food and a place to stay. For those who help
him a lot, he returns the favor and helps them with whatever they
need.

Quirky/Funny:

For another funny original series, I
recommend Garfunkel and Oates. It is a full season show featuring the
musical comedy group Garfunkel and Oates. The show is based on their
lives and integrates many of their songs into the episodes.